Merchandise Planner

Responsibilities

• Develop, maintain, and revise bottom-up department sales, margin, and inventory turn plans for assigned categories in alignment with divisional and company financial goals.
• Partner with the Buying team to manage inventory levels through accurate forecasting, assortment planning, and markdown strategies.
• Maintain open-to-buy for assigned departments, ensuring all purchase orders fall within approved financial parameters.
• Develop sales and margin goals for promotional events within assigned categories; coordinate with the Allocation team to support appropriate inventory levels on promotional merchandise.
• Identify and communicate weekly markdown needs and recommendations to the Senior Merchandise Planner, Merchandise Planning Manager, or Director.
• Run and analyze reports on a regular basis to monitor business performance, identify trends, and surface risks and opportunities to planning leadership.
• Partner with the Allocation team to support inventory balance across store locations for assigned departments.
• Assist in the development and training of Associate Planners as directed.
• Participate in cross-functional meetings with Buying, Allocation, and Finance teams to support integrated business planning.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree required.
• 2+ years of merchandise planning or related retail experience.
• Highly motivated and results oriented with a demonstrated ability to deliver against departmental financial goals.
• Ability to build and maintain strong working relationships with cross-functional partners including Buying and Allocation.
• Ability to present business performance updates and action plans to planning leadership.
• Demonstrates strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret data and draw meaningful conclusions.
• Demonstrates strong communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Must have strong technical skills; specifically, Microsoft Excel and Business Intelligence software.
• Experience with Planning and Allocation tools preferred; Oracle / JDA plus.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office suite.